Question:
I'm fairly new at farm accounting and need to better understand how we should be booking our haylage, silage and earlage. We track both weight and cost, we weigh each item that goes into the rations. Should we be booking the haylage weight (as is) and adjust the value down based on the moisture percentage? I think I'm answering my own question. So, how do most people track the quantity and value as it flows in and out of their feed inventory?Answer:
The easiest way to respond to this question is to answer in the context of custom feedyards that are included in the ISU Beef Feedlot Monitor - https://store.extension.iastate.edu/product/ISU-Beef-Feedlot-Monitor-Software. Price of corn is tracked on an adjusted moisture basis to match local #2 corn bids. They do not seem to do this with silage. Here they seem to take a ton of silage regardless of moisture, and use the current per bushel price of corn and multiply by about 10 and call that the value of the silage. With earlage it is adjusted to dry corn energy and moisture. With hay and haylage there tends to be an initial adjustment to moisture when put into inventory and value based on what dry hay is bringing. It does not get changed much unless hay is bought.
